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Archive for November, 2006

Snow day in Seattle so I was home most of the day. I took the opportunity to do a bit more proper of a photoshoot with my new Cingular 8525. I finally broke down yesterday and bought one (if you can call holding off for a week “finally”). I’m loving both HSDPA data speeds as well as the scroll wheel – now that I have a scroll wheel I have no idea how I lived without one!

It never ends does it? I’m just finishing up one emergency project at work and am being handed another one. I guess in the long scheme of things its great for my career, but I sure hope that I get at least a couple of slow weeks around the holidays to unwind.

Today my sister and her husband Dave got trapped in Seattle for 24 hours due to an airline mixup. In the afternoon I went out to Pikes place market, and then to dinner with them. I took a couple of shots I really liked including the one below taken at the cafe we ate at and a Kimono from the underground.

The below picture celebrates that my cafe shot way my 1,000th post to Flickr. When I started Futurist Now I questioned if I would end up liking Flickr, and I think the answer is a resounding yes! I currently have 1,001 photos in my photostream, and have had 39,270 views of my stream, and an ambitious photo of the day project. I use FD’s Flickr toys to make a mosaic of some of my recent shots that I’ve liked.

Black and white photography has always been a challenge for me – I see in color. This shot just jumped out at me though while walking home today. I looked up and with the bright overcast sky the fall leaves almost looked black and white.

I tweaked the levels and de-saturated slightly in Photoshop, but otherwise this is pretty much as shot.

Another shot taken on the way home from Walla Walla today. I actually wish I could go back and take it again with the focus point slightly higher on the electrical pole, but I still love this shot. It was taken at the same location as this shot of the Fruit and Antiques store outside of Yakima.

On the way back from Walla Walla I stopped to let Skype stretch his legs and to grab a few pictures of this antique store I pass each time I travel to Eastern Washington. The photo just begged to be “aged” in post so I happily obliged – although with a few twists of mine own both from the Lensbaby as well as in Photoshop.

Thanksgiving was good this year – 2 days with the whole family in Eastern Washington can be fun. Between Janet, Dave, Mom, Dad, Skype, and myself it was a pretty full house for the Toews family.

There were some great memories made over the holiday: dad burning the turkey, Skype getting a giant beef bone with real raw beef still stuck to it, watching Monty Python with the family. I gave my old Powerbook to my parents (an early Christmas present) and was quite pleased to see how much use my dad got out of it in even the first day – I think it’s good to see them getting more into technology.

I took the following picture while driving back with Skype today:

I’m glad to be home and have an actual weekend ahead of me. I have a little work to do, but hopefully it will be for the most part a chance to simply lay around and relax – something I have not done in far too long.

The good news is I made it to Walla Walla safe and sound. The bad news – I’m not home right now. I actually wouldn’t mind traveling if I could bring my whole condo with me, but I just like having my regular schedule, and my things arranged around me in my special little way.

Aside from the stress of getting out the door this morning (thanks to a work emergency, and forgetting things multiple times, and Skype being rather fussy) it was actually a fairly uneventful trip – the passes were rainy but clear, and traffic was moving at a clean 70-80MPH the rest of the way home.

Now that I’m here I have to admit that it’s nice to see the whole family. Last time we were all together was when my grandma died – and obviously I’d much rather see them under the guise of giving thanks rather than mourning the dead. I think this is actually the first time that the whole family (my sisters husband Dave included) has been together under the same roof with Skype – he’s been rather excited about the whole experience and the loads of love that he’s getting slathered on top of his already love-laden life.

I have taken a bunch of pictures already while I’m down here. I won’t have an opportunity to go through my workflow until I get home, but soon enough I promise to post something here.

What better to tote and protect my slim new Macbook than the Archetype: a bag that busts out the cork for form fitting balance between style and function. Seriously – I love this thing. It’s padded enough that I’m not paranoid about my new precious getting dinged or dropped, but sleek and light enough (10oz) that it’s still a portable little package for running down to the coffee shop, or between meetings.

After I got off work I picked up Skype and went down to South Seattle to see the always friendly Darcy from Tom Bihn, and pick up the Archetype that I had ordered. They hooked me up with a 2nd generation ID bag to review so be on the lookout over at Gearlive for more details and a through review soon.

Tonight I pack. I hate packing, but if I don’t do it tonight then tomorrow I’ll be in a big panic trying to get it done prior to heading home to Walla Walla. Skype is already excited to see everything lined up and ready to go – he loves trips!

I’ve managed to get way behind in my blog posting in the last week or so. Luckily work is not entirely to blame as I’ve managed to take a bit of time for myself. After an 80 hour week last week we managed to sort out all the production issues, and working with our changing requirements to get everything done by the end of the day on Friday.

I spent much of the weekend doing very little. I took a walk on Saturday while the weather was nice (and took the above photo), and spent much of the remainder of the day processing photos and spending quality time with Skype. There is something soothing about sitting in front of my rig and working in Photoshop. Tweak this, adjust that, so much control over my captured slice in time – I am god for that moment.

I spent most of the day on Sunday delving back into Oblivion. I had not played my sweet Oblivion in a while, but after showing my mom the game a few weeks ago I’ve been itching to dive back in. I started another new game and am aiming to do a 100% complete with a single character this time.